American Catholics in the Public Square: a report to the Catholic community; The Commonweal Foundation.

FOREWORD

The American Catholics in the Public Square Project began in the spring of 1999 with a preliminary inquiry to some twenty-five experts. The project was approved and awarded a $1.5 million grant by the Pew Charitable Trusts. It moved into high gear in January 2000. The project was conducted on parallel tracks by the Commonweal Foundation and the Faith and Reason Institute, which met jointly three times over the grant period. They sponsored a variety of meetings and discussions from 2000 to 2003, and a final report was submitted to the Pew Charitable Trusts in August 2003. The following report is made to the Catholic community and the interested public. It distills and summarizes the meetings conducted by the Commonweal Foundation and three joint meetings organized with the Faith and Reason Institute.

The conferences, consultations, and surveys of The American Catholics in the Public Square Project are posted on Web sites, and published in books, articles, and pamphlets (see page 13 for a list). They convey a wealth of ideas, opinions, facts, and insights about American Catholics in public life. The discussions reflect agreement and disagreement among Catholics of many stripes about how effectively Catholics are present in the public square. The strengths that the Catholic community brings to American public life are well cataloged; less so the challenges it faces in maintaining a robust, credible presence. As the project was beginning its final year, the clerical sexual-abuse scandal broke, which necessarily entered into the project's deliberations and conclusions.

Even a lengthy report could not wholly convey the delight, vigor, amity, and (sometimes) the rancor of Catholics talking with one another (joined at times by participants not of the fold) about matters of passionate concern, not all of which can be enumerated here. This report is oriented not to the internal life of the Catholic Church but to the presence of American Catholics in the public square and civic life, and to our future there.

The overriding question is this: What must the Catholic community think and do if it is to remain a vigorous presence in the public square? This report touches on the strengths the Catholic community brings to American public life, which are many, and focuses on the challenges, also many, which we face in the decades to come. Readers may want to delve more deeply by looking at the materials cited on page 13.

Margaret O'Brien Steinfels

Co-director, American Catholics in the Public Square

June 30, 2004

I. CATHOLIC INFRASTRUCTURE IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS

1. The Catholic Social Tradition and Catholic Social Thinking

Catholicism is one of the few world religions with a highly developed system of social teaching because it has had to grapple with the political, social, and economic conditions of the modern world. Popes from Leo XIII to John Paul II, along with Catholics around the world, have addressed public-square issues, such as the conditions of labor and the right to organize unions, the situation of the poor, the rights of families to bear, rear, and educate their offspring, the right of the church to teach in secular societies, and the rights of indigenous and ethnic cultures to maintain their languages and ways of life. Particularly after the reign of John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has become a strong proponent not only of human life, but of human rights and human dignity, religious freedom, and freedom of conscience, at least in the public sphere. Finally, compelling theological and philosophical reflection on globalization, the maldistribution of the world's goods, and the growing gap between rich and poor nations has been one of the major contributions of John Paul II to civic life around the globe. In both international institutions and sovereign states, the church exercises a public presence in upholding its own teachings and in supporting the material needs of the poor and the vulnerable.

Perhaps nowhere have these ideas and analyses been given greater systematic study along with continuing efforts at implementation than in North America. From the end of the nineteenth century, U.S. Catholic bishops, clergy, religious, and laypeople have elaborated on and applied these social teachings by responding directly to social-justice issues and by raising public-policy questions about social and economic welfare. In recent years, to these traditional social-justice concerns Catholics have added the challenge to American views on life issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, war and peace, and the care of the poor and the vulnerable. In 1983, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin summed up this whole range of social teaching by articulating the notion of a consistent ethic of life, which encompassed the life issues, such as abortion and euthanasia, along with issues of social and economic welfare, long established as part of Catholic social teaching.

A. The language of Catholic social thought yields a strong notion of the common good. Over many decades, Catholic social thinking supported, even proposed, many of the initiatives taken during the New Deal in the 1930s and the Great Society in the 1960s. Catholics, of course, were beneficiaries as well as supporters of these social programs. From this alliance of ideas and policies grew a strong Catholic identification with the Democratic Party and the election of many Catholics to local, state, and national office. That alliance has ebbed in recent decades, sometimes to the benefit of the Republican Party, and sometimes leading to a state of political homelessness. Today, a sense of the common good, while retaining a central place in Catholic thought, does not fit easily into the platform of either political party.

The strong notion of the Good implicit in the Catholic understanding of society runs against the individualist core and attenuated social bonds of American culture, a matter debated at one Commonweal symposium by sociologist John Coleman and political scientist Jane Mansbridge. The tradition's hierarchy of values, implying a priority in defining the good, prompts suspicions that the pursuit of the Good will thwart the pluralism and diversity of American culture. Still, the very desire for individual well-being lived in a diverse society will always foster efforts at reaching a real, if limited, consensus on what constitutes the public good. In short, the Catholic predilection to seek the common good must be negotiated within the confines of a pluralistic society.

B. Catholic social thought, though linked to the natural-law tradition in its origins, has taken on a trajectory of its own. The natural-law tradition has receded as an active factor in Catholic public presence. In the view of University of Notre Dame theology professor Jean Porter, natural law provides "a genuinely reasonable reflection" on human nature, which ought "to be intelligible" to cultural and religious traditions other than the Catholic one. Yet, at a time when developments in medical technology and family relations make natural-law reasoning potentially useful, it has lost its hold on Catholic moral theologians. Retrieval and renewal of this tradition would help address some of the vexing questions now troubling American society.

C. Catholic social thought and liberal pluralism, though sharing a common concern about justice and the search for the common good, do not agree on the idea of the Good, or the priority among Goods. The project's discussion of Catholic social thinking and liberal pluralism proceeded from the assumption that liberal pluralism is not necessarily embodied in or confined to a particular political ideology or political party. The United States is a liberal polity in which "liberals" and "conservatives" both operate from liberal principles, especially individual liberty, and vie to define the most effective means for achieving that end through public policy. Although echoes of the historical battle in Europe between Catholic social thought and anticlerical liberal theory can still be heard in some circles, the teachings of Vatican II, and also of popes, bishops, and theologians, have accepted constitutional democracy, individual rights, freedom of religion and conscience, and the separation of church and state--in other words, the church has come to terms with major liberal understandings of the individual, the state, and civic life.

At the same time, as political philosopher William Galston argues, liberals too have changed course. They "are less inclined than they once were to emphasize self-interest at the expense of moral motivation, negative liberty at the expense of social justice, or rights to the exclusion of natural duties." This convergence has not settled all questions, for one: Is Catholicism willing to engage with forms of political and moral thought that are not relativistic but nonetheless are characterized by "value pluralism"? While objective differences between good and evil are recognized by such views, Galston notes, "no single, binding, rationally compelling account of the hierarchy of goods leads to a summum bonum," as it does implicitly in the Catholic tradition. This would appear to be a permanent ambiguity for Catholics in pluralistic societies, the United States as elsewhere.

D. Catholic social teaching and the American experience are compatible. Catholics have made themselves at home in the United States, and Catholic social teaching has been one vehicle in this assimilative process. Since the middle of the last century--assimilation, the election of a Catholic president, Vatican II, and the acceptance of separation of church and state--much of Catholicism and Catholic social teaching has come to seem congenial in a liberal democratic society. Equally important in this respect has been the vast array of Catholic institutions, including especially parishes, but also colleges and universities, hospitals, and social-service agencies. These institutions are often pillars of their communities, whether inner city, suburban, or rural, providing services and facilities to Catholics and also non-Catholics. In many places, they are a haven for the most vulnerable people in our society.

Catholic parishes are the center of Catholic life in the United States, the source of what has been called "social capital." They provide parishioners both with ideas and practices, the experiences and the structures for participation in public life. In his essay, "The Catholic Parish in the Public Square," the late sociologist Philip Murnion cataloged the multifaceted ways parishes function as actors in civic life and empower their parishioners to do the same. This includes both internal activities focused on education and service within the parish, and also "public" activities that more directly draw Catholics into action on neighborhood and community levels.

There are more than nineteen thousand Catholic parishes in the United States, many of them theologically and sociologically committed to a vigorous presence in the public square. Nonetheless, participants in the project raised concerns about the future of parishes as sources of social capital. The clergy shortage now looming may mean fewer parishes, with uncertain and untested leadership. This was but one among a number of cautionary views offered in considering the future vitality and effectiveness of the Catholic public presence.

Another and more central consideration for our project itself was raised by the congenial relationship Catholics have had with American democracy. The very process of Catholic assimilation and adaptation to a liberal democratic society has created disagreement among Catholics about the authority of magisterial edicts and the content and direction of Catholic social teaching. At the same time, American culture itself, in the face of growing diversity of population and belief, has turned from principles to procedures in the effort to resolve divisive questions. With the decline of the founding American-Protestant consensus and the emergence of a "culture of choice," Catholic social teaching has a harder case to make than it once did. This is even more the case when Catholics themselves are divided on church teaching and also on important public issues.

Theologian Stephen Pope, in his essay "Catholic Social Thought and the American Experience," explored these dilemmas. He saw strong parishes and Catholic schools as platforms where Catholics could demonstrate the value of consensus on strong ethical principles in a divided society. Summing up several strands of our conversation on the place and value of Catholic institutions and ideas, Pope wrote, "In this country the terms for the debate over a huge range of issues, from business and the professions to sex, marriage, and the family, have been set by radical individualism. Perhaps Catholic employment of the language of the common good, community, and responsibility for others can modify the terms of this debate. On a deeper level, perhaps the basic faith that we can obtain such a public consensus and move beyond radical individualism is itself an important expression of American Catholicism. If so, its practice is surely one important contribution we can make to American civic life."

Pope's hopeful view, generally shared by the project's participants, was contested by a more sectarian outlook that appears to be gaining some ground in the Catholic community. In a final joint meeting with the Faith and Reason Institute, theologian Paul Griffiths argued this view. To sustain a more normative profile of what might be expected from American Catholics in the public square will require a more distant and critical view of the American nation-state, Griffiths suggested.

2. Catholic Institutions

The intellectual richness of Catholic social teaching has practical expression in the hallmark institutions of the U.S. Catholic Church. Over two centuries, U.S. Catholics built and supported a range of institutions--hospitals, social-welfare agencies, primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities--that have provided an infrastructure in which to practice and transmit Catholicism, including its social teachings. Those teachings, moreover, were made available not simply to a clerical or intellectual elite, but to ordinary Catholics. Furthermore, these institutions have been the vehicles by which millions of immigrant Catholics have moved into the mainstream of American society. The beneficiaries can be found in all areas of public life--business, politics, culture, social advocacy, banking, medicine, law, journalism. Some dozen autobiographical statements (and also data from a national survey) commissioned by the project attested to the influence of parishes, of schools, and of higher education (and especially of the women and men who taught in them) on the faith lives and career paths of U.S. Catholics. In conjunction with a strong subculture and the intertwined influences of family (nuclear and also extended), neighborhood, clubs and associations, Catholic institutions shaped several generations in their political, social, and cultural views. In all of this, there was a synergy that maintained a Catholic worldview and a Catholic community.

Today, while those institutions continue their work with new groups of immigrants from South and Central America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe, they nevertheless have less influence among U.S. Catholics, especially generations born after 1960. The historical success of these institutions in Americanizing immigrant Catholics paradoxically threatens the distinctive Catholic identity of these institutions and also the broader philosophical and moral influence of Catholicism on the larger culture. Thus, as Catholics have achieved greater access to the public square and the levers of political, social, and economic power, their philosophical and theological understanding of Catholic social teaching has often become diluted. This has raised serious concern about the Catholic identity of Catholic institutions, and their ability to transmit the tradition to coming generations.

In-depth examinations by the project of three forms of Catholic institutions, state Catholic conferences, Catholic health care, and Catholic education, attest to the influence of these as effective public actors, which nonetheless face external challenges in carrying out their missions and internal challenges about the nature of those missions.

A. State Catholic conferences are one of the most important but least examined forms of Catholic presence in civic life. These bodies are lobbying organizations acting on behalf of groups of bishops in thirty-four states. The project examined the history and range of legislative and administrative activities of state conferences, focusing on three of the most active: California, New York, and Wisconsin. Some of the traditional concerns of these groups include schools, child welfare, and hospitals, and also newer interests growing out of the Catholic social tradition, such as immigration, abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and the death penalty (see the contributions of William Bole, Richard Dowling, and Mark Brinkmoeller).

Statewide groups of bishops set policy for individual state Catholic conferences, which is then carried out by an executive director, now usually a layperson, and his or her staff. How these bodies work with others in political coalitions and with a range of social-advocacy groups is itself a fascinating example of how Catholic values can be part of the give and take of politics at the state level. Edward Dolejsi, executive director of the California State Catholic Conference, presented a particularly penetrating analysis of the possibilities and the difficulties facing state conferences as they forge coalitions and work out political compromises.

As the director of the largest Catholic conference in the United States, Dolejsi offered an array of examples of how his staff works, of the kinds of legislation and referendums they will support (or not). Pointedly he noted that there is also a need to more actively involve Catholic parishes and laypeople in the conference's work.

Even so, he wrote, the Catholic Church "is not to be a political actor. We can be significant, dynamic participants on particular issues and in certain venues, but we do not, and should not, play the political game with the same abandon and vigor as many others, some of whom we may work with in coalitions." He described the importance of coalitions in state politics while carefully delineating the conditions under which the Catholic Church in California, and other states, will or will not join a given coalition. The same challenges are faced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and also by religious orders when at the national level they lobby Congress and federal regulatory bodies.

State Catholic conferences possess clarity of mission, in part because they are under the direct control of a state's bishops. The staffs, like all good "lobbyists," understand that their "bosses" set policy. In order to be effective lobbyists, these staff members must be committed to the church's mission and message. Their effective representation of legislative and judicial responses to issues, despite the clergy sexual-abuse scandal, suggests, as reported by sociologist David Yamane, the depth of their personal credibility with state legislators and regulators.

At the same time, Catholic conferences, whether at the local or national level, are not in the business of delivering or of necessarily animating the Catholic vote. That is not their purpose. Nonetheless, this points to an implicit tension in the role of Catholic conferences. They represent the bishops who represent the Catholic Church, but in what sense do the bishops represent the Catholic people? This ambiguity is one of the issues that emerged in our project with respect to the quality and viability of the Catholic public presence.

B. Catholic health care, Catholic hospitals, and other care-giving facilities have long constituted a large and important presence in the public square. Outside of government institutions, Catholic health-care facilities are the largest provider of health care in the nonprofit sector, serving almost 90 million patients each year. Can they retain a distinctive Catholic identity in the face of market forces and the moral challenges of high-technology medicine? Political scientist Clarke E. Cochran provided an array of examples. Different institutions, usually owned by shrinking communities of religious women, have responded to this challenge in three major ways: by selling their institutions, by merging with other institutions, Catholic and non-Catholic, or by competing through their distinctive sense of mission and religious identity. Added to growing economic pressures, Catholic health-care facilities in several states also face the repeal of legal "conscience clauses" that have allowed them to protect their Catholic ethos and to follow Catholic medical ethics. When faced with the combination of market forces, high-technology medicine, and attacks from prochoice groups, an obvious question emerges: Should Catholic health-care systems shift their current financial and personnel investments to other social needs? In other words, if they cannot function as Catholic hospitals, is it time for them to sell their assets and use the proceeds for other pressing needs? Some religious communities have taken this path.

On the other hand, Michael Place, president of the Catholic Health Association, argued that pressures toward impersonal health care, driven by profit and technology, may make a Catholic presence all the more necessary. Furthermore, these institutions provide the resources and experience needed for the church to exercise a credible role in critical ethical discussions about new developments in biology and medicine.

Given these facts, what kind of values can Catholic hospital systems hope to preserve? Who and what will preserve their specific Catholic identity and mission? Scholar and health-care administrator Patricia Vandenberg raised these questions. For example, nursing schools at Catholic hospitals once played a central role in training nurses from many religious persuasions. That task has now passed to the more science-based curriculums of colleges and universities, where the more patient-care-oriented Catholic ethos of nursing is muted. Can we have Catholic hospitals without Catholic, or Catholic-trained, nurses? Can we have Catholic hospitals where professional administrators may not be steeped in Catholic tradition? Though identity is an issue all Catholic institutions face, it is particularly acute for the Catholic hospital system.

C. Educational institutions have been effective vehicles for the transmission of the Catholic social tradition. Many of these institutions, especially colleges and universities (and also social-welfare agencies, which the project did not examine), are prominent actors in the public square, but do not face quite the same mix of internal identity questions and external market and political pressures as Catholic health care.

Yet, over the last fifteen years, under the rubric of maintaining their Catholic identity, colleges and universities have wrestled with their relationship to local bishops. Discussions and negotiations surrounding John Paul II's apostolic constitution Ex corde ecclesiae, apart from its juridical resolution, have made administrators and faculty more attentive to hiring for mission, formation, values, and Catholic identity. Most of these institutions remain tied to their founding religious communities, whose dwindling numbers of members are overseeing a shift to lay control along with multiple efforts to preserve the religious community's charism.

Seminaries, a special example of Catholic higher education, are under the direct authority of bishops and religious orders. Seminaries are the seedbeds of future church leadership, ordained and nonordained. Since virtually all ecclesial leadership is educated in seminaries, we asked sociologist Katarina Schuth to assess how thoroughly their curriculums expose students to Catholic social teaching. She reported that "about three-fourths of the schools seem to develop their programs with an awareness of the centrality of the social teachings of the church."

The institutional strength of Catholic higher education, along with its intellectually broad and coherent understanding of the human person and the common good, has given the Catholic Church in the United States a formidable public presence. And yet, at the beginning of a new century, internal dissension and external challenge threaten to undermine the vibrancy and effectiveness of these institutions.

II. CATHOLIC PUBLIC PRESENCE

Since the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960, Catholics have been an accepted and critical part of the national political landscape. Social-science and other demographic data show that Catholics have also been accepted in major economic, cultural, and professional circles from which their religion and ethnicity once barred them. This assimilation is likely to continue--in the sense that 65 million Catholics constitute some 25 percent of the population, with largely Catholic Latino immigrants forming the fastest-growing demographic group in the country.

As part of this assimilation process, the ground has shifted over the last three decades from a predictable Catholic public presence and vote to a more ambiguous and perhaps diminishing "swing" vote. At the same time, a wide array of public statements and testimony by U.S. Catholic bishops on issues ranging from abortion to welfare reform, from the death penalty to war and peace, have often divided Catholics as they vote and as they consider support for particular public policies. Political parties too have shifted ground, leaving many Americans, including Catholics, reaching for the Independent label. The phrase "political homelessness" was a theme frequently heard in the project's discussions. For many, neither major political party met the test of Catholic social teaching.

Civic life is not confined to politics and policy, however. The project also looked at certain aspects of cultural life and literature (these essays are available in American Catholics in the Public Square, vol. 2).

1. Electoral Politics

The Catholic vote is not predictable, increasingly it is not a bloc. The project undertook a major survey, conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), which examined how Catholics think about religion and politics and to what extent they are guided by church teaching (excerpts from that report follow).

The major findings in a telephone survey of 1,200 self-identified Catholics in the United States conducted just prior to the 2000 presidential election (September 13-18) were:

* Frequent Mass attendance, high levels of involvement in religious activities, and an important role for religious faith in daily life increase the likelihood that Catholics agree that society is responsible for helping the poor get out of poverty.

* More than three-fourths of Catholics say they draw on their Catholic faith and values at least "a little" in making political choices. When it comes to the specific church teachings on which they draw. Catholics are most likely to say that "the need for moral values in society" is most important to them (40 percent).

* Slightly more than half of Catholics say they would want a priest to urge parishioners to support or oppose specific laws or to contact their elected officials. Only one in ten Catholics would want a priest to urge parishioners to support or oppose a specific political party or candidate.

* Regardless of whether Catholics are aware of the pope or the bishops speaking out on particular issues, most correctly identify the position church leaders take.

* At that point in the 2000 presidential campaign, likely Catholic voters favored Al Gore over George W. Bush by a margin of 42 percent to 35 percent. One in five Catholic voters remained undecided. (After-election analysis showed that Catholics voted 47 percent for Bush and 49 percent for Gore.) Demographic differences in Catholics' political preferences tend to mirror those of the electorate. Support for Gore and a Democratic Congress was especially high among African Americans and Latinos, those from union and low-income households, women, and those born between 1943 and 1960. Catholic men and those in their thirties were relatively strong supporters of Bush and of a Republican Congress.

Data from the CARA survey as well as analysis of the "Catholic vote" by political scientist David Leege show that there is no majority bloc of Catholic voters who are any longer predictably Democratic, nor is there such a majority bloc favoring the Republicans. Nonetheless, a Catholic "swing vote" in contested states with a large number of electoral-college votes remains of intense interest to the political parties. In addition, some data suggest that Catholics who attend Mass once a week or more tend to favor Republicans and more conservative policies. Yet even here is evidence suggesting that such Catholics are discriminating in the conservative causes they embrace. An emerging generational shift among younger Catholics (those born after 1960) is itself divided along gender lines, with men favoring reduction in taxes and social spending (hence favoring Republicans), and younger women--who are also prochoice--tending not to favor such reductions (hence favoring Democrats).

The CARA survey included consultation with eighteen focus groups (conducted in the summer of 2000), which was designed to provide greater detail on three levels of Catholic engagement in the public square: ordinary citizens ("ordinary Catholics"), those involved in church ministry, particularly areas tied to public issues ("professional Catholics"), and those involved in political life as elected or appointed officials ("political Catholics").

Like Americans in general, Catholics tend to associate "politics" with negative images, a lack of honesty, and a lack of trustworthiness. Those who do not see politics in this way tend to see it in neutral terms--as a vehicle for getting things done. They do not volunteer positive images of politics. This negative assessment is held by both younger and older Catholics.

After further discussion, however, ordinary Catholic parishioners tend to conclude that politics and government can be a force for good and to recognize a responsibility to pay more attention, to be better informed, and to vote. Nevertheless, they seem to take their cues about politics from American culture rather than from Catholic affirmations of the positive role of government.

Most say that their faith influences them--although quite a few offered that they disagree with the church on some things. Nearly all reflect a sense of being proud to be Catholic (at least before the revelations of 2002). For some, this seems to be associated with the large numbers of Catholics in the United States and how the media pays attention to Catholic leaders, while for others it seems to be associated with aspects more intrinsic to Catholic teaching and belief.

"Ordinary Catholics," "professional Catholics," and "political Catholics" all recognize that their faith influences the political choices they make. "Political Catholics" tend to be the most articulate about such issues, often from contrasting points of view. "Ordinary Catholics" vary widely in their sense of a particularly "Catholic" worldview toward public engagement--some articulate clearly how their Catholic faith affects the way they think about public issues, while others express a more implicit or tentative awareness of the effect of their faith on their political life. Reflecting the considerable variation found among "ordinary Catholics," there is uncertainty in their own sense of how well ordinary Catholics like themselves understand and practice these principles.

Those engaged in full-time church ministries that include a political dimension understand and thoughtfully articulate concepts such as "social justice," "Catholic social teaching," and "a consistent ethic of life." The "professional Catholics" talk about a Catholic worldview and the principles of Catholic social teaching--human dignity, human rights, the common good, community, solidarity, helping others, especially the weakest, poorest, most vulnerable--in a nuanced and reflective manner.

Catholics serving in public office at local, state, and national levels speak at length about public service, with some referring to politics as a "vocation" or a "calling." Most say they entered politics to help others. Those who participated in the focus groups have given much thought to the relationship between their religious beliefs and their politics, and a number struggle with "church and state issues." While personally religious, some don't feel that they can or should impose their religious beliefs on others. Some clearly struggle with the abortion issue--including those who are prochoice.

Catholic education has had a strong influence on "political Catholics." In particular, many mentioned role models they encountered in Catholic schools, particularly women religious, and how these influenced the choices they made for public service. Most also mentioned the influence of their families. This was especially true for those who came from a more recent immigrant experience.

Many Catholics, particularly among "professional" and "political" groups, want the church to take a stronger, more active role in the public square. They want more guidance from the church.

In asking Catholics about specific policy issues, the CARA telephone survey found (as cited in their report):

* Like most Americans, a majority of Catholics tend to favor school vouchers, capital punishment, and legalized abortion. Catholics tend to oppose debt forgiveness for poor nations and the use of U.S. troops as peacekeepers. They are divided in opinion on physician-assisted suicide (47 percent favor; 46 percent oppose).

* Although a majority of Catholics favor the death penalty, a significant percentage of Catholics have recently changed their views and now oppose it or have had second thoughts. Catholics are almost evenly divided in describing themselves as "prolife" (46 percent) or "prochoice" (49 percent). This even divide belies a more complex picture. Overall, 62 percent of those surveyed thought abortion should remain legal, even though they do not approve of all the reasons women may have abortions: 91 percent disapproved of abortions if the woman was more than six months pregnant and 93 percent disapproved for selecting the sex of a child, whereas 77 percent approved of abortion if the woman's life is in danger and 66 percent in the case of rape.

* The consistent ethic of life (linking the life issues such as abortion with more traditional social-justice issues, such as welfare) resonates with Catholics. Still, while Catholics' personal values are shaped by their religious faith, their conclusions do not always reflect the official position of the church.

2. Political Homelessness

From the wave of nineteenth-century immigrants to the election of John F. Kennedy, Catholics, especially the Irish, had a passion and a talent for electoral politics. In large cities, politics was a tool for providing jobs, financial assistance, and education. In the face of anti-Catholic prejudice in some areas, electoral office and bloc voting were a powerful vehicle for assimilation and upward mobility. These produced both the fact and the myth of a "Catholic vote." Statistically such a vote is a diminishing reality. Still, the discussions among the participants in our project suggest that the Catholic vote at the beginning of the twenty-first century is nonetheless a precious commodity among political consultants eager to sell their views and their services. In fact, the Catholic vote has become diffuse and, in many ways, indistinguishable from the American electorate generally. The CARA survey and David Leege's essay certainly suggest a diminishment--if not a demise--of the Catholic vote.

What does this mean for the Catholic presence in the political arena? Leege observes that the agenda has shifted in the contemporary American political system to emphasize private rather than public problem solving. If this continues, he suggests, in the future Catholics, particularly younger ones, may manifest their concern for human life, for justice and peace, for the poor, not so much through electoral politics and policy lobbying, but through philanthropic institutions and charitable giving. He is skeptical, though, that such privatized problem-solving will lead to the systemic betterment of society--as, for example, New Deal reforms did.

Nonetheless, there is a lingering hope that a Catholic moral compass will direct voting on issues of continuing concern for the tradition of Catholic social teaching. Writers E. J. Dionne Jr, and Kate O'Beirne, in their lively discussion on the prospects of either Democrats or Republicans capturing that vote, conceded the point while suggesting some tantalizing future possibilities. "Political homelessness" conveyed the sense that neither political party provided a place where Catholics with a keen sense of the church's social tradition would find a place. The consistent ethic of life was one expression of this tradition, and a preferential option for the poor was another. Hovering on the horizon is a more sectarian outlook that has made few inroads among Catholics, at least statistically. Withdrawal from the political sphere is not deeply rooted in American Catholicism, and the disagreement with many policies--abortion, death penalty, foreign policy--on both right and left, could take on the coloration of the increasingly partisan battles of Democrats and Republicans, rather than carve out a "center" for Catholic social teaching and Catholic political presence.

III. TRANSMISSION OF THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL TRADITION

Catholic public presence depends on the commitment of current and also future generations. Who is transmitting the Catholic social tradition? How is it being transmitted? And to whom is it being transmitted? This is certainly among the greatest challenges facing American Catholics. Effective means of transmission are critical to a continuing and identifiable presence in the public square. Historically the primary transmitters have been families and institutions, especially parishes and their schools. Other mechanisms for transmission include preaching in parishes, statements of the bishops' conference, and public advocacy by Catholics and church leaders. More recent initiatives, such as lay volunteer groups, offer formation and education that represent new vehicles for transmitting Catholic social teaching and also offer opportunities for implementing it. Although many mechanisms for passing on the intellectual substance of Catholicism and the Catholic social tradition are available, the project found that a major challenge lies in its reception among younger generations.

1. Identity

The definition of Catholic identity (Who is a Catholic? What do Catholics believe? What must Catholics do?) has dominated a long, and acrimonious, series of discussions since the transformative years following Vatican II. As boundaries have shifted and practices changed, Catholics have struggled to understand their church and their religion in light of Catholicism's efforts to come to terms with modernity. Catholic colleges and universities have been the most active in examining the question of identity in response to (1) the effort to join the intellectual and academic mainstream; (2) the declining presence of clergy and religious on their teaching and administrative staffs; (3) the increase in the number of non-Catholics on their faculties and in their student bodies; and (4) Vatican insistence on closer juridical ties between these schools and the diocesan bishop. Although resolution of these and other challenges to Catholic identity is far from complete, by and large, institutions of higher education are working their way through a long and complex process to ensure the Catholicity of their schools.

Although primary and secondary educational institutions have not had the same scrutiny of their identity as colleges and universities, all have had dramatic decreases in clergy and religious, a corresponding increase in laymen and -women as teachers and administrators, and of non-Catholic students. Catechesis and religious education have been found wanting, and a large number of students entering Catholic higher education are said to be religiously illiterate. Yet even when the fundamentals of faith may be poorly understood, many programs of social service and community involvement required for confirmation and high-school religion classes may instill the precepts of Catholic social justice. A similar process is at work in higher education.

Among the events that have gone far to define Catholic identity and the church's public presence in the minds of many citizens, Catholic and non-Catholic, are episcopal statements on a range of public-policy issues. The bishops' statements on war and peace and on the economy in the 1980s, and their active opposition to abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and the death penalty are the most widely known and frequently reiterated. How have the church's positions on these issues been conveyed to Catholics? Data from the CARA survey reported above (see page 6) show that Catholics have a general understanding of the church's teachings on these and many other issues, though, to varying degrees, Catholics do not fully accept the church's official positions. The life-and-death significance of many of these issues, and their consequent resistance to compromise, play a crucial role in shaping the political stances of church leaders and many Catholics, deeply affecting their sense of moral urgency and of estrangement from both political parties (see the discussion of political homelessness above), their choice of political rhetoric, and their preferences or conflicts in forming alliances or coalitions.

While there are many "public" Catholics in the policy arena and other public venues, it is the bishops who tend to command the public square in speaking for the Catholic Church. Individual lay Catholics may have a voice in "Catholic" discussions, yet the media and other opinion leaders see bishops and clergy as "the Catholic" voice; Roman collars tend to define the issues on TV and in print. Lay Catholics are brought into these venues by major media, especially if their views are divergent from the bishops' or officially stated positions. In most instances, print and broadcast media facilitate the reception of episcopal and papal statements not only to the general population, but also to most Catholics. Shaping public (and Catholic) reception then often requires an assessment of how the media will receive and treat such statements and announcements. This media treatment of Catholic news is a major challenge to how Catholics understand not only the church's moral teachings, but also its socialjustice teaching. A sense of Catholic distinctiveness may be eroded by the media framework in which the teachings are presented, a phenomenon accelerated by the weakness of the Catholic press.

The media challenge was sharpened by the clerical sexualabuse scandal that began in 2002. Media coverage of the scandal, which built on a preexisting skepticism about the church, was overwhelming in its range and intensity. This is likely to affect the Catholic public presence negatively, at least insofar as the bishops remain the chief spokesmen and public face of the church, and insofar as ordinary Catholics take their distance from public Catholicism.

2. Young Adult Catholics

The future of a Catholic presence in the public square depends on a younger generation of Catholics who may be poorly formed in their faith and who may have only a thin notion of Catholic social teaching. A consistent and recurring theme of the project concerned younger Catholics and the degree to which Catholic social teaching, indeed Catholicism itself, was transmitted to those born or growing up during and after Vatican II. When speaking of young adult Catholics, reference is made to men and women born from about 1963 to 1983. The oldest of this group would have been in grammar school during the Watergate scandal, and in high school in the mid-to-late seventies; they would have been growing up in the aftermath of Vatican II. These Catholics have come of age in a church and a country experiencing immense changes, a church and a country whose tasks and goals are often divergent, a church and a country whose boundaries and definitions of membership are more flexible or ambiguous than they once were, a church and a country that must deal with these challenges in a more conscious and thoughtful way than they ever have. Neither church nor society can still depend on the social mechanisms of a thicker Catholic subculture, of accepted social norms and practices. Both church and society have authority issues: what claims can they make not simply on the allegiance of the young but on their participation? The oldest among this generation, whose ties to and knowledge of Catholicism may be tenuous, are themselves now parents raising children in this less communal and more individualistic atmosphere.

James Davidson, a sociologist at Purdue, calls young adult Catholics "post-Vatican II Catholics" (born between 1961 and today), and finds them somewhat different from Vatican II Catholics (1941-60) and very different from pre-Vatican II Catholics (born before 1940). Davidson has sorted through the differences among these three generations of Catholics: for the Pew project, he looked specifically at questions of civic engagement.

Overall, Catholics appear to be a bit more civic-minded now than they were in the 1950s. About 38 percent of today's Catholics, and 36 percent of today's young adult Catholics, are involved in civic groups and activities. They are most involved in religious groups, fraternities and sororities, and sports/fitness groups, and least involved in educational and cultural activities, political, volunteer, and business groups. About young-adult Catholics, Davidson made these observations:

* They are less involved in the Catholic community than their parents and grandparents. Forty-nine percent of young adult Catholics almost never go to church: 51 percent do go to church, but only 21 percent go every week or more.

* The post-Vatican II generation is least involved in parish life and other religious activities. For Davidson, these findings suggest that Catholic rates of religious participation are likely to decline even further as the Vatican II and post-Vatican II generations replace the pre-Vatican II generation. This does not mean there will necessarily be a decline in all forms of religious activity. The numbers of prayer groups and small Christian communities have been growing. Young people are as likely as older Catholics to belong to such groups. Young adults will respond positively to invitations from groups in which post-Vatican II Catholics constitute a critical mass and are a significant force in the planning and execution of activities. They will shy away from groups run by older Catholics who simply want to include young people in the pursuit of causes that pre-Vatican II and Vatican II Catholics consider important, such as liturgical reform or the ban on artificial contraception.

* Commitment to the church, income level, and parish membership are key positive factors affecting the nature and extent of civic activity among all Catholics, including young adult Catholics. The more that Catholics are committed to religious activities, the more likely they are to participate in other civil-society activities.

* The post-Vatican II generation is somewhat more involved in sports, fitness, educational, and cultural activities, and in political and volunteer groups. Some of this activity is age-related: for example, they are involved in PTA and other school activities because they have school-age children. Some of these new forms of civic involvement, especially sports and fitness activities, do not correlate with parish membership and commitment to the church the way other activities do. Rather than internalize the traditional norms and values of external authorities as earlier generations did, today's young adults are more inclined to create new ideas, new companies, new products, new ways of solving traditional problems, new forms of civic life, including new voluntary associations. They may be inclined to do the same with their religious practices.

* Focus groups conducted by CARA found that, generally, Catholics did not have a positive view of politics or the political process. One focus group made up of young adult Catholics used terms like hypocrisy, diplomacy, and personal agendas. Public service was described as a necessary evil.

Other notable characteristics of young adult Catholics:

* Forty-eight percent have college or postgraduate degrees. They will eventually become the most educated group of Catholics in the history of the church, creating an ever greater need for church teaching and governance, preaching and public advocacy to be cogent and persuasive.

* Nineteen percent have annual incomes exceeding $80,000.

* Young Catholics marry later and begin their families later than their parents or grandparents did; for many, that may be ten to fifteen years after finishing college. Increasingly, they are marrying non-Catholics.

The trajectory of these generational tendencies was summed up by political scientist David Leege: Succeeding generations of Catholics are less likely to expose themselves to religious information or cues about faith and life, in part, because Mass attendance is down. That means less exposure to the church's teaching and far less group reinforcement in church settings among the young adult generation that has moved so heavily in conservative directions on social issues (men) or become prochoice on abortion (women especially). Catholicism, including Catholic social teaching, is likely to have less influence on how these young adults think about foreign aid, war and peace, racism, etc.

This profile of detached and religiously "illiterate" youngadult Catholics has been emerging over two decades and has brought a variety of responses. The project examined some of these. Many colleges and universities encourage "public square" participation by focusing on Catholic social teaching, providing college students with volunteer opportunities, community service, and exposure to the poor and other vulnerable people, at home and abroad. These programs have evolved over the last twenty years and have become more sophisticated in their pedagogy. First, the courses have become longer, and students who spend an entire academic year in service-learning courses benefit more than those who spend a single semester. Second, faculty needs special training to adopt this pedagogy of analysis and reflection on community work. Indeed, the task of preserving Catholic identity in colleges and universities is often the impetus to these efforts at making students more knowledgeable about Catholic social teaching. Thus, a handful of universities have developed a whole menu of programs for faculty development that includes topical discussion groups, regular forums on ethical issues, conferences, research and curricular grants, workshops in service-learning, and immersion programs. Santa Clara theologian William Spohn describes these programs and project in an essay posted on the Pew Project Web site.

A second arena of young-adult engagement and formation is typified by volunteer groups, such as the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and the Holy Cross Associates, which send young adult Catholics to spend a year or two working in ministry, usually right after college. About fifty thousand young adult Catholics have gone through these programs in the last two to three decades. These experiences do have an impact not so much on career choice, but on how young Catholics try to incorporate what they have valued in their volunteer service, community, simple lifestyle, social justice and spirituality, into their careers and family life (see Maurice Timothy Reidy's essay on the project's Web site).

IV. IN CONCLUSION

The Catholic Church in the United States retains a robust presence institutionally and intellectually. As this brief report, published essays and articles, polls and focus groups, Web sites and the conferences themselves demonstrate, parishes, schools, hospitals, social services, colleges and universities, and state Catholic conferences are enduring and trusted participants in the public square. Year in and year out these institutions demonstrate the necessity and importance of the church's desire and ability to be a leaven in American public life. So, too, does Catholicism's tradition of social thought, which retains the flexibility to shape important cultural and policy discussions--a flexibility that must be wisely and intelligently exercised. The American moral and political consensus of the 1950s is long gone, and the Catholic tradition must operate on a new, less friendly social and intellectual terrain. As more individualistic and less communal lifestyles emerge, the idea of the common good and the defense of the most vulnerable--children, the elderly, the unborn, the disabled, the sick, the immigrant, the prisoner--become ever more important in policy debates and cultural analysis. Economic calculations along with tax cuts and tight budgets require Catholics to find new ways to implement the core truth of Catholic social thinking: The social nature of the human person requires a life lived in community.

The clergy sexual-abuse scandal has been the story of the Catholic presence in the public square since January 2002. Two and one half years later, sustained attention to its consequences and its remedies continue among the bishops, the victims, the media, and the Catholic population. Even so, it is not the only story--as we found in a May 2003 consultation with lawyers, church officials, journalists, and policymakers. Indeed, the scandal may have a greater impact within the Catholic Church than on the multiple and diverse ways that Catholics are present and engaged in civic life--the focus of The Americans in the Public Square Project.

American Catholics, perhaps without the strong leadership of their bishops, must rethink the means of handing on the tradition. Polling data, anecdotal evidence, and widespread observation make clear that coming generations of Catholics do not share their parents' and grandparents' commitment to the institutional church, nor do they affirm their faith with equal, or sometimes any, intensity. Whether measured by Mass attendance, parish registration, or knowledge of Catholic teaching, at least half of those born after 1960 have an attenuated attachment to the core beliefs and practices that mark older generations of Catholics. New forms of attachment to the church may emerge, but today the most distinctive contribution of Catholicism to the American public square--its institutions and ideas--do not much occupy the attention of younger Catholics. It is in younger generations that the Catholic Church, in its current wounded state, confronts an uncertain future.

Since 2002, preoccupation with the sexual-abuse scandal has kept most bishops and many clergy on the sidelines of public engagement. Efforts of laypeople to respond to the crisis have met with little positive response from the hierarchy, and in some instances rejection. To this impasse has been added the ill-conceived tactic of making reception of the Eucharist a political tool. Given the scandals of 2002, this form of return to the public square, especially during a presidential election year, will hardly attract the young and is likely to alienate older generations of Catholics as well.

Nonetheless, the longer-term problem of transmission must be taken up by colleges and universities and a by variety of educational efforts in parishes. For this to happen, initiative and responsibility are required--of a kind that characterized the work of both laity and clergy from the beginning of the Catholic Church in the United States. Today, the same kinds of zeal and creative leadership are required if there is to be a vital Catholic presence in the public square tomorrow.

AMERICAN CATHOLICS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE

Major Themes

What did the project learn? Here are some of the major themes that emerged, followed by comments elaborating on each topic.

Catholicism is a public religion.

"Catholics consider that Catholicism is a public religion, not a private or personal one, not a spiritual path only. Catholics think that they have something important to contribute to the public square, and that their tradition provides the intellectual and institutional means to help them do that. The boundary between American civic life and the Catholic Church's institutional life, teachings, ideas, and people seems highly permeable, at least from the Catholic point of view. Catholics do not see themselves as a people set apart. The result: first, every discussion about public life and public presence inevitably incorporates questions reflecting back on the state of the Catholic Church, second, though Catholics are strong supporters of the separation of church and state, they do not easily abide the separation of church and society, religion and politics, faith and culture."--Margaret O'Brien Steinfels

Consistent ideas persistently presented are a powerful contribution of the Catholic community to American public life.

"A strength of the Catholic tradition in America is its theological principles, which emphasize social interdependence, community, human dignity, etc. These are countercultural to the libertarian or radical individualistic nature of American society. The Catholic contribution to the public square is to insist upon its overall worldview as a counterbalance to pernicious tendencies, particularly libertarian ones. The Left is bankrupt in emphasizing this sense of community and social interdependence and the idea that you may have an obligation. Epistemologically, Catholics still have a sense that there is such a thing as objective truth, and that counterbalances the usual sins of relativism."--Mary Segers

"There is a distinct, persistent, and pervasive Catholic voice and presence in the public square. It is manifest in the actions of Catholic bishops, priests, and laity. At the same time, this distinctive voice and presence is pluralistic, rich though sometimes internally dissonant. For example, the abortion debate has changed over the course of time. That has to do with persistence, but equally with thinking that is consistent and coherent. It is this aspiration to not dwell on a single issue, but to have a consistent and coherent social philosophy or set of teachings embodied in a social action that helps you stay the course. How Catholics stay the course is really distinctive. That can't be said for other religiously observant people in the public square. Persistence and persuasive arguments shift the debate in the Catholic direction."--Barbara Dafoe Whitehead

Political parties and political allegiances are neuralgic subjects in the Catholic community.

"There are abiding tensions between American liberal categories and Catholic ones on questions such as the nature of truth, approaches to authority, the value of autonomy and individualism, and the practice and practices of democracy. The project confirmed this tension while showing that, no matter how frustrating it can be, it is helpful and necessary. To put it in a slogan; America needs the church, and the church, as the clergy sexual-abuse scandal has shown, needs America."

--Grant Gallicho

"We hear conservatives saying that it's not the church's business to get involved in public policy. And there is evidence that in some seminaries there's a reluctance, or a lack of enthusiasm, about Catholic social teaching that may be rooted in the sense that this is not what we're all about: In a seminary, we should be teaching a theology of grace, not social justice. From this perspective, Catholic social teaching in the public order is seen as provisional--melting into air as situations change; whereas the theological is understood as something more substantive and enduring. But aren't they legitimately and necessarily linked? We are a communitarian people, and some of our social advocacy reflects not only the common good, etc., but also, say, the Trinity, in which communion is at the heart of reality and a substantial link to social justice. Those who are more committed to traditional theological teaching don't see how (or have not been instructed how) that link is part of the deep grounding for a set of attitudes about the public order.

"So you have this odd bifurcation: Those who are liberal, without doing deep philosophical or theological reflection, are forwarding what seems only to be liberal human rights. Conservatives tend to see this as detached from the deep theological wells of the tradition. Because it also looks like liberalism in the public order, there is a suspicion that its roots are not in the theological tradition."--R. Scott Appleby

The abortion debate is a central factor in Catholic civic engagement.

"The abortion issue remains central to the presence of Catholic elites in the public square. For Catholic activists, the cadre, if you will, this is a major problem, whatever position, prolife or prochoice, one takes. This is so whether we're looking at it from the point of view of Catholic feminists active in the church; or of those active in policy arenas, lobbying groups, for example, or of social-action directors at state levels; or of peace and justice centers."--Peter Steinfels

"Many participants in the project seem to accept the principle of church teaching embedded in the consistent ethic, but were perplexed about the political challenges that it presented, and the litmus tests imposed, especially when it came to abortion. The litmus test has a variety of applications from screening out prochoice persons from receiving honorary degrees at Catholic colleges and universities to barring prochoice politicians from candidate nights or local-issues discussions, even if they support an array of social-justice issues that conform with the consistent ethic. This can mean that, at the level of the state Catholic conference or the national conference, more vigorous involvement in certain issues like homelessness is conditioned by an interrogation of how the abortion question fits into legislation or coalition building."--Margaret O'Brien Steinfels

Catholic leadership in the public square depends on and reflects leadership in the church.

"Catholicism needs recognizable representatives in civic life who are not responsible for magisterial teaching. We need space for leaders who are Catholic, that it is a known fact about them, that it is reflected in their own comments, whether we're talking about a Henry Hyde, a Mario Cuomo, a Eugene McCarthy, or people in the punditocracy. People's Catholicism shouldn't only be brought up when the media want, a la Anna Quindlen or Maureen Dowd, to say something nasty about the Catholic Church. Magisterial statements are not their job; nobody thinks that if Eugene McCarthy says something about this topic or that topic, that's to be confused with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"There's a tendency, from various directions, to narrow the public space. The abortion issue has probably contributed to that. If Catholics are going to have a presence in the public square, then we are going to have to expect them to disagree with one another, so there will be a Henry Hyde, and there will be a Mario Cuomo, and there will be an Antonin Scalia. These people are recognizably Catholic, and they are recognized as part of the Catholic presence in the public square. They may want to say things about the Gospel and about Jesus, but we should accept that they say them as more or less well-informed Catholics and not as authoritative teachers. Room for this form of Catholic presence seems to have disappeared."

--Peter Steinfels

"To what extent does a question about Catholic presence in the public square need to focus on the activist, the militants, the cadre, the elite versus the people who are more passive citizens? The latter are good people, but they're never in an active, prominent way going to have an extensive presence in the public square. When we look at the past or look at good examples of Catholic presence in the civic life, to what extent is it because of a smaller activist group? To what extent do we have to think in terms of formation: What opportunities are we offering, not only for a general formation but for the smaller number of activists that can make a difference? And here's where Catholic education could potentially make a real difference. It might aspire toward formation of these active Catholics, who will always be a minority, but who will be the Catholic presence in the public square."

--R. Scott Appleby

Transmission of the Catholic social tradition depends on the transmission of Catholicism.

"If we want to maintain or increase or rebuild Catholic public presence, we should invest our resources in mechanisms to do that--in parishes and in colleges and universities. There has to be a much more rigorous and vigorous sense of adult education in parishes as well as dedication to parish schools or CCD. Colleges and universities probably invest a great deal more in this than parishes do, but the problem is that there is a certain inchoate quality there about what you should do. Part of the investment of resources should be to identify the best programs, the best models in adult religious education--go to the Mormons and see how they do it. There could be an ACE program for Catholic social teaching--an Alliance for Catholic Education--where people coming out of the colleges and universities have some kind of incentive and support for working in their parishes."

--Barbara Dafoe Whitehead

"There is a failure of imagination in terms of new forms of Catholic commitment and Catholic immersion. Opus Dei has organizationally grown because it has found a way to take people in at critical junctures in their lives and ask for a formal commitment that otherwise is not asked for. Yes, there is parish and campus ministry and all that, but there must be some new ways to ask people to make their Catholicism a much more powerful part of their lives. There are models. Whether it's Opus Dei or the Mormons, there are things that we can learn from them. There's the old system of formal total immersion, you know, whatever one remembers, either nostalgically or not, as what Catholic culture was like in the 1940s and 1950s. Opus Dei has ongoing, organized living arrangements. It's a religious order. We don't have any of those anymore that are adjusted for the way people live and the kind of commitments they want to make."

--Thomas Baker

RESOURCES

Web sites:

www.catholicsinpublicsquare.org

www.Fordham.edu/cs/AntiCathConf.htm

http://cara.georgetown.edu/FreeResearch.html

www.frinstitute.org

Survey findings:

Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Principal investigators: Mary E. Bendyna, RSM; Bryan T. Froehle; Paul M. Perl.

CARA: "A Preliminary CARA Report of Findings from Focus Groups Conducted for American Catholics in the Public Square," July 2000.

CARA, "The Political Preferences of American Catholics on the Eve of the 2000 Elections," October 2000.

CARA, "American Catholics in the Public Square: Final Report," December 2000.

Articles:

The following articles from the project appeared in Commonweal:

Gregory Wolfe, "I Was a Teenage Conservative," March 9, 2001.

William Galston, "Catholic Social Thought & Liberal Pluralism," April 6, 2001.

Valerie Sayers, "Catholic Writers Now," May 4, 2001.

William Bole, "Communitarian Lite," September 13, 2002 (a report commenting on and interpreting the CARA survey of American Catholics prior to the 2000 election).

Mark Sargent, "We Hold These Truths: The Mission of a Catholic Law School," April 25, 2003.

Luke Timothy Johnson, "Women & the Church," June 20, 2003.

Other publications:

Paul Elie, "The Last Catholic Writer in America," Books and Culture, November/ December, 2001.

William Bole, "State Catholic Conferences," Our Sunday Visitor, December 10, 2000.

Kenneth Woodward, "The Last Respectable Prejudice," First Things, October 2002.

Stephen Pope, "Catholic Social Thought," Peace and Justice Studies, Fall 2002.

Richard John Neuhaus, "The Persistence of the Catholic Moment," First Things, February 2003.

Many of the essays and responses from the Commonweal track and the joint track organized with the Faith and Reason Institute are in:

American Catholics in the Public Square (Rowman & Littlefield / Sheed & Ward, 2004), editor, Margaret O'Brien Steinfels. Volume 1, American Catholics & Civic Engagement: A Distinctive Voice. Volume 2, American Catholics, American Culture: Tradition & Resistance.

Other sources:

James D. Davidson, et al., The Search for Common Ground: What Unites and Divides Catholic Americans, Our Sunday Visitor Press, 1997.

Dean R. Hoge, et al., Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice, University of Notre Dame Press, 2001. (The chapter on Hispanic young adults is very much worth looking at.)

Bryan Froehle and Mary Gautier, Catholicism USA: A Portrait of the Catholic Church in the United States, Orbis Press, 2000.

Peter Steinfels, "The Next Generation: A Diagnosis," Commonweal, November 23, 2001.

RELATED ARTICLE: PARTICIPANTS IN THE AMERICAN CATHOLICS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE PROJECT

The following women and men participated in one or more of ten Commonweal colloquia, three meetings organized jointly with The Faith and Reason Institute, a public forum on anti-Catholicism co-sponsored with Fordham University, a consultation on the impact of the clerical sexual-abuse scandal on the public square, or a consultation on the finding and major themes of the project. Their names are noted in gratitude for their participation and for the record; their listing does not constitute endorsement of the project or of its findings.

A

W. Shepherdson Abell, Distinguished Visitor from Practice, Georgetown University, partner, Furey, Doolan & Abell * Kirk Adams, Chief of Staff, Service Employees International Union * John Agresto, Wabash College: Agresto Associates * Delis Alejandro, Saint Monica's Parish, Santa Monica, Calif. * Charlotte Allen, The Catholic University of America, journalist * Richard Alleva, Actor, essayist, Commonweal film critic * Anthony Andreassi, CO, Regis High School, New York * R. Scott Appleby, Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame

B

Thomas Baker, Open Field Partners, deacon, St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction, N.J. * Dianne Baldwin, Crisis * Mary Jo Bane, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University * Paul Baumann, Editor, Commonweal * Mary Bendyna, RSM, CARA, Georgetown University * Brian Benestad, University of Scranton * Jason Boffetti, PhD candidate, The Catholic University of America; research associate in education, Faith and Reason Institute * William Bole, Journalist, Woodstock Fellow, Georgetown University * Mary Ellen Bork, Catholic Campaign for America * Joseph Bottum, Weekly Standard * Mark Brinkmoeller, Director, Office for Justice and Peace, Diocese of Madison * Gail Buckley, Author and columnist

C

Daniel Callahan, The Hastings Center, International Program * Sidney Callahan, Psychologist and writer * Jean-Yves Calvez, SJ, Centres Sevres, Georgetown University * David Carlin, Community College of Rhode Island * John Carr, Director, Office for World Peace and Social Justice, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops * Mary Beth Celio, Office of Planning and Research, Archdiocese of Seattle * Anthony Cernera, President, Sacred Heart University * Cathy Cleaver, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops * Clarke E. Cochran, Professor of political science and adjunct professor, Department of Health Organization Management at Texas Tech University * John Coleman, SJ, Casassa Professor of Social Values, Loyola Marymount University * Rand Richards Cooper, Novelist, essayist, Commonweal film critic * Rev. Donald Cozzens, Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology * Michael Crofton, Philadelphia Trust Company * Rev. Charles Curran, Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values. Southern Methodist University 

D

Donald D'Amour, Big-Y Foods * James D. Davidson, Professor of sociology, Purdue University * Thomas Day, Professor of music, Salve Regina University * Allan Figeroa Deck, SJ, Loyola Institute * Leonard DeFiore, National Catholic Education Association * Patrick Deneen, Assistant Professor of politics, Princeton University * Raymond Dennehy, University of San Francisco * Pia De Solenni, Director of Life and Women's Issues, the Family Research Council * Michele Dillon, Associate Professor of sociology, University of New Hampshire * E. J. Dionne Jr., The Brookings Institution, Washington Post * Melanie DiPietro, Attorney, Buchanan Ingersoll Professional Corporation * Richard Doerflinger, Prolife Office, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops * Edward Dolejsi, Director, California State Conference of Catholic Bishops * Daria Donnelly, Associate Editor (at large), and co-editor of poetry, Commonweal * Elizabeth Donnelly, PhD candidate, Harvard University * Thomas Donnelly, Corporation/securities law, Pittsburgh, Pa * William Donohue, President, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Liberties * Richard Dougherty, University of Dallas * Richard Dowling, Director, Maryland Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops * Brian Doyle, Editor, Portland Magazine * Rev. Kenneth Doyle, St. Catherine of Siena, Albany, N.Y.

E

Robert Egan, SJ, Professor of philosophy and religious studies, Gonzaga University * Paul Elie, Editor, Farrar, Straus and Giroux * Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago * Genevieve Erkens, Faith & Reason Institute * Sharon Euart, RSM, Baltimore Regional Community

F

Patrick Fagan, The Heritage Foundation * John Farina, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University * Peter Feuerherd, Journalist * Ellen Wilson Fielding, Human Life Review; catholic eye * Daniel Rush Finn, Professor of economics and theology, St. John's University, Minn. * James Fisher, Co-director, Center for American Catholic Studies Program, Fordham University * Bryan Froehle, CARA

G

Grant Gallicho, Associate Editor, Commonweal * William Galston, Director, School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland * Rev. David Garcia, San Fernando Cathedral * Michael O. Garvey, University of Notre Dame * Regina Garvey, Humanitas Foundation * Mary Gautier, CARA, Georgetown University * Dana Gioia, Writer and poet * David Gonzalez, Journalist, New York Times * Kenneth Grasso, Southwest Texas State University * Andrew Greeley, Author, sociologist, University of Chicago * Paul Griffiths, University of Illinois, Chicago

H

Charlotte Hays, Independent Women's Quarterly * Jeanne Heffernan, Pepperdine University, Ethics and Public Policy Center * Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, Harvard University * Monika Hellwig, Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities * Thomas Higgins, President, CEO, and director, Prosetta Corporation * Thomas Hoopes, National Catholic Register

J

Thomas Jodziewicz, University of Dallas * Luke Timothy Johnson, Candler School of Theology. Emory University * Patrick Jordan, Managing Editor, Commonweal

K

Marcy Kaptur, Congresswoman, Ohio * Christopher Kauffman, The Catholic University of America * Cathleen Kaveny, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame * Suzanne Keen, Professor of English, Washington and Lee University * Robert Keeler, Journalist, New York Newsday * Mary Pat Kelly, Independent filmmaker & author * Rev. Raymond Kemp, Senior Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University * Robert King, HD Brous & Co., Inc. * Thomas Kohler, Boston College

L

Michael Lacey, Woodrow Wilson Center * John LaFalce, Congressman, New York * John Langan, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University * Jeremy Langford, Sheed & Ward Publishing * Peter Lawler, Berry College * Philip Lawler, Catholic World News * Dolores Leckey, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University * David Leege, University of Notre Dame * Thomas Levergood, Lumen Christi Institute, University of Chicago * David Loxterkamp, Physician, Belfast, Maine * Luis Lugo, The Pew Charitable Trusts * Dotty Lynch, Senior Political Editor, CBS News * Most Rev. Robert Lynch, Bishop, Diocese of St. Petersburg

M

Frank Macchiarola, President, St. Francis College * Kathleen Mahoney, President, Humanitas Foundation * Francis Maier, Archdiocese of Denver * Jane Mansbridge, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University * Mark Massa, SJ, Co-director, Center for American Catholic Studies, Fordham University * Thomas Massaro, SJ, Weston Jesuit School of Theology * Timothy Matovina, Cushwa Center, University of Notre Dame * Eugene McCarraher, Villanova University * Bill McGarvey, Singer, songwriter, editor, BustedHalo.com * Ned McGrath, Director of Public Relations, Archdiocese of Detroit * John T. McGreevy, University of Notre Dame * Kathleen McGreevy, Avera Health, Sioux Falls, S.D. * Patrick McGreevy, Medical Director, surgeon, Sioux Falls, SD * Elizabeth McKeown, Professor, department of theology, Georgetown University * Wilson Carey McWilliams, Rutgers University * Frank Monahan, Office of Government Liaison, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops * Charles Morris, Author * Daniel Morrissey, Dean, Gonzaga University School of Law * Paul Moses, Journalist, professor, Brooklyn College * Msgr. Philip Murnion (1938-2003), Founding Director, National Pastoral Life Center * Daniel Murtaugh, Florida Atlantic University 

N

Michael Naughton, John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, University of St. Thomas * Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, Editor-in-Chief, First Things * Jay Scott Newman, St. Mary's Church, Greenville, S.C. * Terence Nichols, Professor of theology, University of St. Thomas * Thomas Noble, Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame * Michael Novak, American Enterprise Institute 

O

Kate O'Beirne, National Review * David O'Brien, College of the Holy Cross * Dennis O'Brien, President Emeritus, University of Rochester * Susan Orr, Children's Bureau, Health and Human Services, D.C.

P-Q

Anita Pampusch, President, Bush Foundation * Paul Perl, CARA, Georgetown University * Michael Perry, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory School of Law * Rev. Michael Place, President and CEO, Catholic Health Association of the United States * Regina Plunkett-Dowling, Assistant Professor of theology, Fordham University * Stephen J. Pope, Professor of theology, Boston College * Jean Porter, Professor of theology, University of Notre Dame * Patrick Powers, Magdalen College * John Quinn, Salve Regina University

R

Thomas Reese, SJ, Editor, America * Thomas Reeves, University of Wisconsin * Maurice Timothy Reidy, Associate Editor, Commonweal * Joan Rosenhauer, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops * Robert Rosiello, McKinsey & Company, Stamford * Susan Ross, Professor of theology, Loyola University, Chicago * Robert Royal, Director, Faith & Reason Institute * Christopher Ruddy, Assistant Professor of theology, University of St. Thomas * Deborah Ruddy, Center for Catbolic Studies, University of St. Thomas * Lucia Russett, The Catholic Worker * Maura Ryan, Professor of theology, University of Notre Dame

S

Kimon Sargeant, The Pew Charitable Trusts * Mark Sargent, Dean, Villanova University School of Law * Bill Saunders, Family Research Council * Valerie Sayers, Novelist, professor of English, University of Notre Dame * Pamela Schaeffer, Director of Communications, Society of the Sacred Heart, U.S. Province * Robert Schmuhl, Professor of American studies, director of the John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy, University of Notre Dame * Raymond A. Schroth, SJ, Journalist, Jesuit Community Professor of Humanities, St. Peter's College * Katarina Schuth, OSF, University of St. Thomas * Mary Segers, Acting graduate program director, Graduate Program in Political Science, Rutgers University * Christopher Shannon, Fellow, Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society * Russell Shaw, Knights of Columbus, Our Sunday Visitor * Gerald Shea, Assistant to the President, AFL-CIO * Mark Silk, Director, Capps Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, Trinity College * Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation * William Spohn, Santa Clara University * Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, Co-director of American Catholics in the Public Square, former editor, Commonweal * Peter Steinfels, Co-director of American Catholics in the Public Square, New York Times * Brian Stiltner, Assistant Professor of religion, director of the Hersber Institute for Applied Ethics, Sacred Heart University * Daniel Sulmasy, OFM, Physician, St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center * John J. Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO * Nancy Sylvester, IHM, Executive Director, Engaging Impasse: Circles of Contemplation and Dialogue

T-U-V

Leslie Woodcock Tentler, Professor of history, The Catholic University of America * Michael Uhlman, Claremont Graduate University * Patricia Vandenberg, CSC, Director of business administration, Baldwin Wallace College * Julia Vitullo-Martin, Senior Fellow, Manbattan Institute * Thomas Vitullo-Martin, Political scientist

W

Steven Wagner, QEV Analytics * David Walsh, The Catholic University of America * Kathleen Maas Weigert, Director, Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service, Georgetown University * Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Author, co-director of the National Marriage Project, Rutgers University * Ralph Whitehead, Department of journalism, University of Massachusetts * Brad Wilcox, Research Fellow, Center for Research on Child Well-being, Princeton University * Paul Wilkes, Writer * John Wilkins, Former editor, the Tablet of London * Alan Wolfe, Director, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College * Christopher Wolfe, Marquette University * Gregory Wolfe, Publisher and editor, Image * Kenneth Woodward, Contributing Editor, Newsweek * Don Wycliff, Public Editor, Chicago Tribune

Y-Z

David Yamane, Assistant Professor of sociology, University of Notre Dame * Mary Zito, Faith & Reason Institute

A project funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts